Insight and Discussion Concerning What’s Important in BC

This is not the time to mince words. BC voters have a problem. A real problem. A problem that may determine the financial well-being of BC residents and future residents – not just for the mandated aftermath of this 2017 election, but for the foreseeable future thereafter.

These are the facts.

BC is essentially, for all practical purposes, a two party province with the politically unacceptable result that there always is the strong probability of a majority government. Majority governments find it too easy to ignore the interests of those who did not vote for them – in favour of their own supporters, particularly their strong financial supporters.

Neither of the obvious probabilities to form that government commencing in 2017 should look particularly palatable to BC voters.

The BC Liberal Party has clearly outstayed its welcome – and lost its ethical compass and a commitment to accountability in the process. BC Libs are Marketing Mavens, Political Panderers, Fundraising Fiends – and apparently distancing themselves from the principles of fiduciary trust and accountability to the voters of BC.

The very real specter that the BC Liberal Party is accepting legally questionable substantial donations from paid lobbyists and special interest groups appears to be in violation of the BC’s already flimsy and inadequate political funding legislation. For details, the original article posted in the Globe and Mail headed ‘British Columbia: the ‘wild west’ of fund raising‘ offers evidence so irrefutable concerning the irregularity of paid lobbyist contributions (among others) that the matter has been referred by the Chief Electoral Officer to the RCMP.

Add this latest revelation of a Godfather style ‘Protection Racket’ that encourages lobbyists for institutional and corporate interests to ‘pay up’ for the privilege of possible preferential treatment – to the BC Liberal Party’s insistence that changes do not need to be made to the political contribution legislation (capped and controlled through legislation in virtually all other jurisdictions in Canada save one), is only another amongst many compelling reasons for voters to overwhelmingly and decisively reject the BC Liberal Party in the 2017 election.

This ethically unacceptably arrogance must be punished at the polls. Add this ‘country club entitlement’ mindset to the myth of LNG wealth, secrecy and lack of transparency (including shredding of documents in the very offices of the Premier herself), and the questionable use of taxpayer dollars to promote the fallacious myth of ‘prosperity for all’ in BC in expensive television and radio advertising should signal the political end of the BC Liberals as the majority government of BC.

The Liberals have been disingenuous at best, and unethical at their unsupportable worst.

So, we get rid of the BC Liberals in 12017 and allow them to look in the mirror and attempt to reinvent themselves as an accountable and trustworthy political alternative – sometime in the distant future.

That is the nature of democracy. You want to serve as government? Earn the privilege. Earn the trust of the BC voter. Maintain that trust.

The most effective agent for change in any political environment is a change of government.

As a result, the pollsters and the voting public look to an alternative in 2017.

Front and center is the NDP.

Notwithstanding the ‘SpeNDP’ reputation of the NDP and the www.sayanythingjohn.ca attack website funded by the Future Prosperity BC Inc. organization, BC voters should be scratching our collective heads trying to figure out what the NDP actually stand for.

The demagogues at the NDP head office are apparently not much different than the demagogues at the BC Liberal head office – trying to be all things to all people.

We know that the NDP typically plays to its power base – unions and provincial bureaucrats and employees. Unfortunately, for the NDP, the interests of the ‘environmental’ NDP base differs diametrically from the union ‘job creation and construction’ party base.

And, while the NDP trumpets its resolve to change the campaign and political party financing paradigm, the actual practices of the NDP don’t look a heck of a lot different than the Liberal version.

In November, 2016, the NDP hosted a $10,000 VIP fundraising dinner as reported in detail by the Globe and Mail.

For my money, and for yours as well, the issue becomes whether we can trust a historically ‘fiscally reckless’ political party with the BC economy, the job prospects of our Millenials and the sustainable growth of the BC economy. The track record tells me that most ‘business’ and ‘fiscally conservative’ interests are adverse to committing to the NDP and that the success of the NDP in the 2017 election may be mitigated by its track record – and it’s attempts to ‘walk the same tightrope’ as the BC Liberals.

You cannot be all things to all people. Neither the NDP nor the Liberals seem to have got the message.

Who’s left?

The Green Party of British Columbia might appear to be an increasingly viable alternative – but the Greens are not yet ready for prime time (if ever they will be). Major issue remains reconciling the absolute fact of the need for the continued growth of provincial Gross Domestic Product and demonstrable financial viability to ensure the delivery of services and initiatives for the present and the future – against the Greens commitment to an environmental model which, while laudable as an intellectual exercise, may not be fiscally viable and attainable in the real world.

The word ‘one trick pony’ comes to mind.

The BC Conservative Party has a continuous recent history of litigation, infighting, unethical practices at the party level – and for the past 4 years since the last provincial election (inclusive of the current iteration), demonstrated incompetence. With 2 months remaining until the 2017 election, the BCCP remains leaderless, financially unsound and (as at the date of this publication) unable to announce a single legitimate candidate for 2017.

It is not a stretch of the imagination to conclude that any support of the BC Conservative Party would result in – a vote for incompetence. Hardly a viable or realistic prospect.

British Columbia Social Credit Party? A fading memory. No hope for revival in 2017.

The BC Action Party? A well-intentioned pipe dream of disgruntled ‘small c conservatives’ that cannot muster a declared candidate as of the date of this article.

The Libertarian Party? Some candidates but no broad based support.

Other fringe parties? More of the same. But with special interest agendas.

How do we, the voters, break the historical pattern of either the governing party (Libs) or the pretenders to the throne (NDP) forming a majority government in 2017?

How do we ensure accountability, transparency and the elimination of political party patronage and (paid for) special interest policy?

There is still time for proactive citizens and voters to identify, engage and nominate candidates with no expressed political affiliation to serve in the legislature as independent MLA’s, following the exemplary political service of Vicki Huntington, MLA Delta South. Vicki Huntington has been able to further the needs and wishes of her riding better than any other MLA since she is directly accountable to her constituency voters – and only her voters.

If the electorate in BC were to nominate and elect a reasonable number, say a dozen, independent MLA’s and those MLA’s represented the ‘balance of power’ between a minority government and the official opposition, policy and legislation introduced at the BC legislature would require actual, meaningful debate and consensus. If legislative did not pass the scrutiny of broader based support it would be defeated.

The best legislative decisions are based on the principle of ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ if we are to follow the tenets of democracy.

Consider how you can participate in making meaningful change to a political environment in BC that clearly needs a reality check and revision – in the best interests of all BC residents and future residents.